The Joy Formidable

just seen in a small but sold-out bar in new york, which is intersting because i don't think any of their records are out in the us. yay internet.

it was a really good (if short-ish) show! i can't remember thinking this about many bands, but it seems like they should become big. they have catchy songs, they can rock out, they're attractive -- and everyone loves the welsh, right?

their 2009 album had a modest but well formed following on ILM.. i for one am v interested in their next one

I think they in (or are soon to start) the process of recording the proper debut LP. That "Greyhounds in the Slips" single bodes well.

But yeah, there are a few of us around who've been championing them to all who would listen.

I liked their album more than Passion Pit... I don't know who was first and don't really care. Cutesy gang vocals with synths aren't interesting nor inspiring.

nyctaper.com has mp3 and flac from the piano's show.

They're opening for Paul McCartney in Cardiff next month. Kinda shocked by this, they're still 'the band some friends from school are in' to me.

Thought the first album was good but a bit one-dimensional, but I liked the Greyhound single and am really interested in hearing their new album.

i had a dream that they asked me to sing for them at their show in chicago, but it was like the next day and they didn't give me any of the lyrics or practice with me or anything. then it was time for the show and they had all these extra musicians and there were stage directions i had to follow where i had to like thrust my arms in the air at a certain point

I'm really liking the enormous walls of guitars on the new album. Not so sure about the songwriting sadly.

Realized yesterday that I absolutely HATE what they did to "Whirring" by extending the outro jam to infinity and using double kickdrum hits on it like they're some metal band.

the everchanging spectrum of a lie is fucking great.

xpost -- I fucking love the double kickdrum on Whirring! I'm torn between this song and Llaw = Wall as my favorite on this album.

Unfortunately I couldn't make it to their show last month. Hopefully they will come to Portland again soon.

this big roar is kicking my ass...easily my fav release of 2011 so far.

everchanging spectrum is really awesome, one of my favorite songs of the year. good album but I played it out over three weeks and got tired of it.

Just saw on facebook that TJF is playing Conan tonight. Wooooo!

Glad there's a thread on this band. They were on GlastoBBC last night. This tiny little blonde thing in a summer skirt and doc martens playing brutal attack rock interspersed with pretty indie breakdowns. What I noticed most were her facial expressions that went from elated gaiety to snarling bitterness from verse to chorus. Sometimes I thought she was going to get blown offstage by the ferocity of their guitar playing. Ones to watch...

i think i am going to buy this album this week. loving the vocals and wall of sound production.

no coverage on the iplayer of their G set yet though.

I think you can red button their set on tv? maybe... I'd love to see it again. Good to see a front(wo)man with the right levels of gusto as she.

xpost

yes, me too.

i am lazy - what's it called?

never mind, i just found out and bought it.

album : the big roar.
no access to red button on normal freeview.
never realised how diff freeview is for sat/cable viewers then this weekend.
normal freeview had nothing on the red button really.
booo.

xpost. ha.

I've received The Big Roar in the mail (lovely artwork let down by standard plastic case - should've been a digi-pak). Will be putting my ear quite close to it at lunch and report back.

I like them a lot but I wish the songwriting was as good as their overall sound.

not got this yet.
too busy buying/absorbing the hold steady back cat. this week.
on my list though.

(lovely artwork let down by standard plastic case - should've been a digi-pak)

Yes! At the risk of stirring up yet another debate about the relative merits of each, I'm always a little disappointed when an album comes in a standard jewel case - they should all be digi-paks now.

My husband likes this band and I was never really inspired to care much until today -- watched a live performance of Whirring and there is something so pleasantly late 80s/early 90s about them. I love her!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvYDpmnwMno

I will admit that I was also put off by their name.

^^^^ otm

on both counts!

I mean, if I was still in high school I would totally have pictures of Ritzy all over my locker and be in a constant state of massive crush.

^^this

I know it's kind of crude, but I'm a sucker for a band with a cuet singer. And the early-'90s alterna-rock thing only emphasises that. Could see them being included on one of the old Volume compilations.

She's cute, but she also has guts and seems somewhat mature -- she's not cartoonishly cutesy or twee/winky. that's why i like her.

Exactly, plus she plays a mean guitar.

I saw them play live a couple of months ago in Cleveland and just stood near the stage and marveled and her and the bass player's pedal rigs. Some of them are labeled for specific songs, some have an effect feeding into another of the same effect with different settings, it's crazy. They're coming back here for a free show at the Rock and LOL Hall of Fame in August, I'll definitely see them again.

Definitely a PJ Harvey/Kristin Hersh thing about her.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5256/5561101431_3ef0d170a2.jpg

That's what I mean -- she is skilled! And adorable! I think the super noisy intro/outro are what sold me, tbh.

*sticks up poster in work locker*

Whoa. Two Line 6 loopers?

Not loopers - the gold box is the distortion modeler, the purple box is the filter (modulation) modeler.

I do not know what these things are, but I want them!

Think the two green pedals in the foreground are a Tubescreamer and a Bad Monkey (excellent cheap Tubescreamer clone)

Ah, thx. They kind of looked like old loopers but I wasn't totally sure.

A graphic eq and a tuner pedal there too. Top tip: if you don't like your distortion, try putting an eq before it, can totally change its character.

It's been quite while since I heard such a great full-on, blasting, melodic rock record.

Very good album, this. Interviewing Ritzy tomorrow if anyone has a burning question or two...

Since buying this, I've had it on my ipod but other than Abacus I couldn't tell you anything about it. Every track is kind of startling but then just wooshes over me. A shame - I like the idea of this band.

I like "Whirring" a whole bunch.

oh yeah, Whirring is the other one. The others are kind of cool, but not memorable.

It's been quite while since I heard such a great full-on, blasting, melodic rock record.

― Asamoah Nyan (Le Bateau Ivre), Sunday, July 17, 2011 12:45 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark

cradle remains one of my favorite songs of the past couple of years

the opening track of this album (everchanging spectrum of a lie) is one of the best opening tracks of any albums in several years. it kind of overshadows the entire album by being so great though. I was on the fence about this band for a long time even after hearing the album a ton, it seemed too derivative and her vocals too siouxsie, but it eventually won me over.

Hmm I've avoided them because of the band name but y'all are making them sound cool.

Seriously, the joy formidable is so bad, like a jam band from a small expensive private school in a small town in the midwest

The terrific fanvid for Austere is, sadly, no longer featured on their website.

This is still such a great album.

Seeing these guys tonight. So psyched!

cradle remains one of my favorite songs of the past couple of years

― kaygee, Friday, September 2, 2011 1:17 AM (6 days ago) Bookmark

Hmm I've avoided them because of the band name but y'all are making them sound cool.

Seriously, the joy formidable is so bad, like a jam band from a small expensive private school in a small town in the midwest

― velvet underground - reloaded (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, September 2, 2011 9:24 AM (6 days ago) Bookmark

yeah the name is beyond embarrassing but imo you would probable dig it

the other night Conan reran the episode they were on, that performance was basically the thing that made me go "holy shit, i need to hear this album"

the band name is terrible and the album name is even worse
still, the music is great

they're like the ugli fruit of bands
http://www.fruitipedia.com/Fruit%20NGTP.jpg

im prolly repeating myself from rolling indie but Ostrich is still my favorite, such a raw beast (exactly why it wasn't one of the holdovers from the EP). Austere and Greatest Light still get me going but Whirring is totally lost on me. They're friendly too and I really wanna see them make good.

And my interview's up:

http://www.ocweekly.com/2011-09-08/music/the-joy-formindable-ritzy-bryan/

formindable!

Thankfully the actual headline's correct.

Great show last night. The band is totally tight. A lot of the songs have been lengthened out for noisy/neo-shoegazey parts. They played 'Ostrich' which I thought they wouldn't. And I never really warmed up to Cradle as many have around here but the version I heard last night was massive.

A lot of the songs have been lengthened out for noisy/neo-shoegazey parts.

OH DARN.

Meantime, a very...random story:

http://www.business2community.com/social-media/what-small-business-can-learn-from-the-joy-formidable-about-social-media-marketing-056217

(The impact seems to be 'hey let me tell you about this stuff everyone already knows about!')

that link has a youtube embed of the awesome Conan performance i was talking up thread, though!

There is that!

OH DARN.

So you haven't seen them, Ned?

Not yet. That will be corrected in two days.

i don't like the album quite as much as the ep, but like some others here i'm a sucker for that sound.

(lol this is like the only thread i've ever started on ilm that gets revived. thanks to maura for championing them!)

Yeah it was Maura's posts on idolator that got me into them.

Okay that show was insanely great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BMh8eirSDY

^^ yes!

i love hearing "Whirring" on the radio regularly now but it's such a disappointment when stations play the single edit w/o any of the outro

ooh, didn't know these guys were getting american radio play - i heard "austere" out at a restaurant last week and it was :D

yeah it's not a huge hit but it's definitely breaking through to mainstream radio a bit -- touring w/ the foo fighters probably helps

I'd gladly proffer payola if my Top 40 station played "Whirring."

Just got the "latest" issue of The Big Takeover and am rather surprised this hit their Top 40 albums of the past 4 months. I like it, but holy exclamation marks are these guys enthused over it

No, that's typical of BT. When Jack Rabid likes a band, his enthusiasm is rather boundless even if the band is medicore at best. Not saying that about Joy Formidable though.

"Top 40 albums of the past 4 months" doesn't sound like a really prestigious distinction though?

You should've seen some of the past #1s. There were some pretty dry 4 months out there if a tour-only EP from the Pernice Brothers garnered the #1 spot.

xp Consider BT is quarterly, it makes more sense.

it's such a disappointment when stations play the single edit w/o any of the outro

I hate the appended outro on the re-recorded album version, so imo the single edit is the o.g. version.

well, the radio version is edited down from The Big Roar version. what releases is the original version you're referring to on? A Balloon Called Moaning?

Yeah, that. (Maybe it also had its own single? I know it had a v1.0 video.)

weird: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=19839733

"endtapes" is so fuckin good

Saw these guys a few weeks ago and it reignited my obsession with their albums. The Big Roar is still growing on me, which is no small feat given how immediately taken with it I was.

Word is they're supposed to release another album sooner than later. Pretty excited.

That will be a treat!

Great news!

Bring it:

http://www.spin.com/articles/the-joy-formidable-roar-again-with-stately-wolfs-law

They are full of surprises. Love it.

yeah, cool song

I hate to be the lone voice of dissent, but this signals a boring turn imo.

i tend to give the benefit of the doubt that a first single is simply a statement on what one song on the album sounds like, not what the whole thing is going to sound like

Yeah, those guitars aren't going anywhere. I'd be content with The Big Roar 2: More of the Same, but I'm glad they're willing to mix it up a bit

The Joy Formidable have spent the first half of 2012 gearing up for the release of their second album, 'Wolf's Law', due out in early 2013. As a taster for fans of the new material, today the band have uploaded a video for a track inspired by the album title. 'Wolf's Law' (the track) will not be featured on the album but is a perfect pointer for the band's second album, both musically and thematically.

ha sometimes bands leave title tracks off albums but to have it as a standalone advance single is kinda ridiculous

I think it's a pretty ballsy statement. Not having the track on the album gives me permission to compulsively listen to it as much as I want, too. I'm not sure that it is a single—that term is never used in the band's press release—but given that the song has a video I guess that's just semantics.

i approve of this song

the new song they played live when i saw them ("silent treatment") was a slow ballad, but it was v pretty

yeah i imagine this won't be the song they send to radio or anything, i just meant 'single' in the broadest sense of song that was released by itself and not as part of an EP or LP

A (sort of silly) radio rip of the proper single "Cholla" is making the rounds now. Not sure if I should embed it b/c the audio is crappy and a better version must be on the way, but it's really good; super guitar heavy, very "Siamese Dream"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xsFhE9PzT8

Okay, this is properly dope.

Love it.

nice. they always sound so good. great guitar tones, great production.

Oh yay. That is great.

i get have some good guitar tones but the production is way flat sounding

ok

Cholla is great but it doesn't sound like anything on Siamese Dream.

ok

― congratulations (n/a), Friday, September 14, 2012 10:52 AM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

glad u agree

love the broken bass string

"Cholla" is sweet and this is already one of my most anticipated albums of 2013.

this new song is ok, but the best thing was returning to "whirring" afterwards for the first time in a while

what a tune

video up for 'this ladder is ours', the actual first single from the album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_t4s-HX3z0

They're so good at non-standard times and endless riffs.

i never did get the debut ..

but damn, i like this new one a lot (even though its fairly generic layered to excess guitar pop .. )

like that better than cholla

much more excited about this new record now

streaming: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-joy-formidable-reach-for-rock-heights-on-wolfs-law-album-premiere-20130116

:-D

i have a lot of enthusiasm for this band. i think i used to agree with matt dc about the songwriting being secondary to the sound (think i used to just listen to "whirring" and "cradle" over and over again) but i think the songs are by nature kind of slow-acting; first you're overwhelmed by the sound of it and then the fragments of melody slip in lightly, almost unnoticed. the kind of effect where i was sort of underwhelmed at first by "cholla" and "this ladder is ours" and then found aspects of them in my head a week later

i can tell you right now that i don't know how i feel about "maw maw song"

oh hey I am kind of digging this

also the beginning of "cholla" is like a bomb going off every time

okay seriously why did I have problems connecting with this band before

YOU HAD KNOCKWURST IN YOUR EARS BUT THANKFULLY YOU CLEANED THAT OUT.

Sorry I was just having a compulsive air guitar moment earlier and I mock all who hate this band.

Also the one-two of "Tendons"/"Little Blimp" makes me want to have an Alex in NYC moment and bulldoze over the remains of idiots and fools.

no no you're right, I literally had knockwurst in my ears

Also the one-two of "Tendons"/"Little Blimp" makes me want to have an Alex in NYC moment and bulldoze over the remains of idiots and fools.

*main riff to "cholla" plays as ned, piloting a bulldozer, emerges smiling from beyond the hill*

did they get a little gothier on this release or something

it's a little more immediate than the big roar

they're about equally goth though

also this is the first record i can think of where i'm actually glad there's a hidden track, and it's "wolf's law"

that's good to hear, it was pretty dumb when they released the title track as a single and then said it wouldn't be on the album

i can tell you right now that i don't know how i feel about "maw maw song"

It feels like this: "Whuh, but that's still a cool start...wait they became "Hard to Explain" by the Strokes but actually good, then they went back to the apocalyptic glam-stomp because why the fuck not."

Okay ending (bonus track aside) on a huge string laden punch = A fucking plus.

Probably helps that I was warned by some friends long ago this album was a slow-grower, but man, this is all sounding incredible to me on first listen

oh no, "maw maw." I always assumed these guys were above that kind of Flaming Lips tomfoolery

So yeah, this album is utterly wonderful though. And just distinct enough from their debut, without totally sacrificing the qualities that made that one so good

yeah it's a proper progression

this album is insane.

I watched the Jimmy Fallon performance and thought, "oh man, this band s going to be Smashing Pumpkins kind of huge."

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/video/the-joy-formidable-this-ladder-is-ours/n31790

A couple of days later, and while there isn't anything really amazing about the performance, that idea still doesn't seem entirely far-fetched.

I can't help but sing "We Represent the Lollipop Guild" along to "Maw Maw Song."

awesome album, definitely loved the first in a "this excels at something slightly one-dimensional, and i'm happy with that for at least one album" but they actually upped the ante here

i think i like this but it's a little overproduced, like you don't really need harp trills and string crescendos and claves when you've got a band that already sounds good and writes cool songs

like i'm really not crazy about "the turnaround" for example

Jack Rabid's glowing review on his Facebook feed from a couple days ago solidified me wanting to check 'em out at least:

the formidable joy i get from the new joy formidable album out in three days, and their previous album the big roar and mini-lp a balloon called moaning, is off the charts. and their appearance on jimmy fallon last night, a few hours after i interviewed them for big takeover's upcoming spring issue 72, was just another bit of evidence that they are the best live band going as well, and have been for at least three years. and what an uplifting set of lyrics, without overselling it! and what nice people. is there anything they don't do well? i don't know... trigonometry? cold fusion? flossing?

they're definitely a great band, i'm just not as excited about the direction on this album as others i guess. maybe it'll grow on me.

Just picked up Wolf's Law, so can't comment, but the overproduction was my major disappointment with Big Roar as well. Still think Balloon Called Moaning is their definitive statement so far. They could benefit from a producer in the Albini minimalist/dry production school, or maybe someone like Steve Lillywhite for a wet but sympatico compromise.

sampled by The Lonely Island, of all things:

hulu.com/watch/450051?playlist_id=1031&asset_scope=all

n/a otm

coming into loving this, esp. "tendons" and "the leopard and the lung"

jury's still out on "maw maw song" tho

"Maw Maw Song" is great! I was slow to get into this band but I'm there now, dig the new album.

German livestream happening, y'all

http://www.wdr.de/tv/rockpalast/

I don't get it.

okay this album, it's so good

"Bats" is fantastic

YES.

My attention still drifts when I listen to the back half. But this is an album with "Cholla," "Tendons," and "Bats."

It's quite something.

seeing them tonight, hopefully, for the first time (hopefully because I'm kind of sick, my kid is sick, etc, but should still work out)

well this was very good. a bit slick and professional, but good nevertheless

I saw them last night and have to echo that they were slick and professional. But they are also really good musicians who were definitely having fun playing the songs and jumping around. The only complaint I might have is that because the music just goes from 0 to 100 in no time flat, hearing song after song do this for an hour and forty minutes can get kind of wearing.

I only saw one of the opening bands, Guards, who were dreadful. The best part for them was the second to last song: A sub-Arcade Fire yeller that wound up devolving into a serious psych-rock meltdown. I asked my son after the end of the song, "Why couldn't they have been doing that for the last 30 minutes?"

why are "slick and professional" bad things again?

No, I'm not saying that they are bad. But, I think if you're coming to see them because they might be reminiscent of shoegaze and what you might associate with seeing those types of bands live, they are not that at all.

Also, probably because it was spring break, but there were a load of kids with their parents at the show (raises hand since I took my 13-year old as well) which I thought was really cool.

I think if you're coming to see them because they might be reminiscent of shoegaze and what you might associate with seeing those types of bands live, they are not that at all.

Hell, I don't know about you but when I saw them touring the other year, some of the sheer throb and intensity of the performances wasn't just making me think of shoegaze but frickin' Loop. If that's the atmosphere of a claustrophobic club (as it was), then hey, I got lucky.

Ned, I wish I got to see Loop back in the day. Love that band.

This tour is way different than when I saw them about a year and a half ago. They have a full light show including a gigantic cut out of a wolf's head hanging from the cat walk with different-colored lights ringed around the cut out. There is also projector showing some of their videos and other scenes displayed at the back of the stage. And oh yeah, it was loud. So you do get that throb and intensity but also with strobes and swirling lights. At times it was like a full-on assault of the senses.

Guards were terrible! Holy crap!

Finally picked up 'Wolf's Law' at the weekend, enjoying it. A friend's band supported them in a small local venue when they were touring 'A Balloon Called Moaning' but I missed it due to work - all reports made me regret this.

Guards were heckled here at the Chicago show for their excessive smoke machine use. The other opener, Kitten, were just as bad but in a massively entertaining way, thanks to their ludicrously over-the-top stage moves.

I am all good with this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaQGZwDNFHo

in a perfect world it would be twice as long and not acoustic

New song, new album soon!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpWUIRGZwvE

Great video!

I haven't heard Wolf's Law since 2013. Should revisit.

wowzers.

I don't like this very much, but maybe there'll be better songs on the record.

Its been diminishing returns since the first two singles, for me. A Balloon Called Moaning is my most played guitar rock album in a decade, but all the "ambitious" production of the later albums just distracts.

^ yes, this.

Ie, they were a lot more fun when they were into punky power-trio dustups than pretending to be Heart.

Here, the only remotely interesting sound (to me) is the descending guitar line on the bridges. On the first album, that would have been allowed to carry the song.

So, what I'm trying to say, is here's Steve Albini's number. He's really not the asshole you may think, and his studio has the BEST coffee.

this album killed any interest left in them eh

Me too, they jettisoned everything interesting.

yup same here

This band seems determined to turn into Linkin Park or some shit.

Did they release something new and uninteresting?

Any any band needed to strip back to its roots and visit Steve Albini's studio...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haktGTrtdx0

Mike Shinoda could "rap" all over this.

last two albums lost me but it's return to form time baby!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fRYvc6jZy0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAR3Wdu9rZo

first single is also excellent

Ooh, digging this!

Yeah already got this on preorder. In retrospect I should have gone to see them in late December 2019 but you can't have it all.

glad to see they're still going, I have a couple albums to catch up on

nice. would love another album as succinct as Balloon Called Moaning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHs7Y2bhJbM

took me forever to get around to it but this album is dope

that last tune you posted is fucking great tbh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH1ewx6d8j4

can't get enough of this song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93ftEk8ZYec

oh what the hell, also obsessed with this song. i need tim f to hear this record

Yeah i like 'interval' too, guess i need to check the album. Is there a piano lurking in the mix there? It's giving me tori amos vibes for some reason

Looking forward to the late November show...

This is great! I hate to lean on the overused cliche, but it really is a return to form. This scratches the right itch for me.